Applying business principles to the local arts scene

When he was a young comic breaking into improvisational comedy, Neraj Tuli was tired of hearing about promising performers heading to New York, Chicago, or Los Angeles to find their big break.

In 2003, a year after forming a comedy troupe with some friends, Tuli and one of those friends started a theater and performing arts group called ''the Tribe."

''I noticed people were leaving Boston, and I wanted to solve that problem," said Tuli, 30.

Ultimately, Tuli said, he is pushing to develop a better arts scene in Boston, where performers don't have to struggle to find stage time and audiences, and where an array of arts organizations doesn't duplicate marketing and fund-raising efforts. He has mostly quit his computer consulting business to pursue his arts passion full time.

''I deliberately went from being very focused to being less focused," Tuli told graduate business students at Babson College one recent evening. ''I'm trying to redefine what it means to be a theater group in Boston that encompasses theater, music, film, and comedy."

Tuli has to deal with a number of business, management, and strategy issues, which is why he sat down for a discussion in an entrepreneurship class at Babson run by professor Julian Lange. On his list: finding a permanent venue, maintaining a stream of talent and motivation, filling seats, and deciding whether to structure his organization as a for- or nonprofit.

Trying to put on shows for a Boston audience and trying to bring together the artists community are two very different goals, student Jeff Levinson said. ''It's great he has a big vision, but he needs to understand how each part fits into the vision," Levinson said afterward.

''Is it possible that you're trying to be too much to too many people?" Josh Lubov asked later in the discussion.Lubov advised that Tuli and his colleagues set ''achievable goals," ''recognizing when you've done that" and allowing others in the organization to also recognize those milestones.

The 100-person Tribe has ''multiple ways" of staying motivated including monthly ''Tribe-wide" meetings, with ''transparent" accounting reports, and using a ''marketing of one" motto where each person is responsible for bringing in customers as well as potential performers for auditions, Tuli said. He is gradually building a leadership team that so far includes co-artistic director Michelle Barbera, operations and logistics director Mamta Vora, and associate directors for film, music, theater, and improvisation.

But he also lamented a shortage of time to pursue leads for corporate shows and training videos. ''It's a huge income opportunity if we do it right," Tuli said.

''It wouldn't be unheard of to ask your volunteers to contribute $5 or $10 as a membership fee," said Angela Han. ''You're giving them stage time, and you're connecting them to great directors."

Finding ''people who succeeded without going to New York, LA, or Chicago" could bring cachet to the group, Liz Parker suggested. ''Maybe you could actively recruit them to become members and in their bio, it'd say, 'member of the Tribe.' "

Tuli worried that if he did set up such a system, he'd lose people to competing organizations who don't charge membership. That would be solved ''once you've got the prestige of the big names," Parker said.

But the Tribe's biggest hurdle, finding its own space, is standing in the way of Tuli's pursuing a number of the students' suggestions for developing his talent and for building his audience, he said.

''How about connecting with high schools?" suggested Bob Bennett. Establishing such relationships will build up the ''high school arts crowd," he said. And ''their parents will come" to Tribe shows, Bennett said.

Reaching out to ''artists with day jobs" and offering a place where they can collaborate on ideas when not working could help widen the Tribe's appeal, said Michael Widmer.

Tuli agreed with Todd Connor that he could use someone to drum up revenue and free his time to be creative. ''I'm the business manager and the artistic director, and I should be one or the other," Tuli said.

If your small business is facing a challenge, describe it to us at smallbiz@globe.com.